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Light intensity as mechanical potential: a symmetry-based approach

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posted on 2019-08-16, 15:23 authored by Tianyi Guo, Xiaoyu Zheng, Peter Palffy-Muhoray

Light-induced motion is of increasing importance in materials development. In many situations, modelling the detailed dynamics of light-induced phenomena is not practical, yet a description of the behaviour is needed. We attempt to show here that in some such situations, symmetry arguments can prove useful. We outline a simple scheme where symmetry arguments can be useful in modelling the dynamics, and show, in three examples, that in some instances, light intensity may be regarded as a mechanical potential. Such an approach may help in understanding photoactuations in situations where more detailed analyses are impractical.

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research [ONR N00014-18-1-2624].

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